On this 18th day of 2018 our conditions have not changed from teh last week or so. Further investigations have revealed that the North and Western portion of the trail are in better shape then I thought, but still not good. The best news that I have in a long while is that Bobby finally feels it is beneficial to run, so groomer Ken has taken the machine on a tour of the West trails into Trout Lake tonight. TASA has also finally made it to Epoufette for the first trip on Wednesday.

I want to stress these are not great trails, but barely ridable, and only North and West of the center connector, the Burma grade. South of that has impassable sections, on the RR Grade in Moran, and sections of teh pipeline and Castle Rock Road. SO riding out of Iggy is a no-go. But if you are brave and want to stay at Bobby's in Epoufette, you should be able to get to Trout Lake, Rexton & Newberry. We will be not able to handle a ton of traffic, but our base should be serviceable when we do get some good snow.

Forecast is for 38-40d on Saturday, cooler in the nights. We will take some damage, but should be OK for the most part. Closely watching the Monday storm which is still predicted to give us 5"+ IF that one hits, the guys are ready to turn tracks fast and will have things ready to go by mid-week. Keep up the snowdance.

Forecast:

Quote:

Friday: Mostly cloudy. Slight chance of drizzle in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 30s. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 20 mph increasing to 30 mph in the afternoon.

Friday Night: Mostly cloudy in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 20s. Southwest winds 5 to 15 mph with gusts to around 30 mph.

My wife and I rode from Trout Lake to Strongs on Saturday and it was poor most of the way. Lots of Snirt on the south end and patches of mud and Ice as you get closer to Strongs. We ran into a group from Ohio that tried to go to Rudyard and said they hit gravel and had to turn around. We are hoping and praying for the 8-12 the weather guessers are calling for.

Trailered up to Newberry Sat morning. Rode from Newberry > GM > Shingleton > Big Springs > Shingleton > Seney > Pine Stump > Newberry. Traffic wasnít near as bad as I anticipated. Trails were great till about 2 and then started getting rough with the traffic and warm temps. Praying for this fresh storm to hit tomorrow.

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Matt
Straits area club Member
2017 Ski-doo 1200 RenegadeX